Play/Pause buttons on keyboard + Winamp

Question

As a friend of mine pointed out earlier tonight, Winamp is really a great program. I agree.

The only thing stopping me from using it on a regular basis is that Windows Media Player supports use of the playback buttons on the keyboard, while Winamp does not....or does it?

Question: How to set up the playback buttons on the keyboard to work in Winamp instead of WMP?

---

My computer is running Windows 7 Starter (lame, I know;)

Not a duplicate -- that question was asking about making the dedicated "open a media player" button to open Winamp instead of WMP....I want the play/pause button to play/pause Winamp after it's already open.

Solution

Yes, Winamp does support global media hotkeys automatically, as long as another program does not usurp those hotkeys. This can happen if you open another program that hooks to those hotkeys after Winamp is opened.

This is supported by a plugin that should be enabled by default, the Nullsoft Global Hotkeys plugin. Additional hotkeys can be enabled. Interestingly, my Winamp instance will accept media hotkeys even though global hotkeys are disabled in the preferences dialog.

The default media hotkeys are Stop, Play/Pause, Previous track in playlist, Next track in playlist

Comments

[matan129]

If it were the same, there's won't be a tag for every version of Windows. You picked the tag correctly

[Shokhet]

Thanks for the answer....I looked at 'Plug-in' in the menu....enabled Nullsoft Global Hotkeys plugin.....was told "Hotkey registration failed! Could not register the following hotkeys: Volume up/Volume down/Forward/Rewind"

[Richie Frame]

The hotkey registration, or "hook", is critical for it to work. Another program may be hooked and is not allowing Winamp to take it. See if wmplayer is running in task manager (also itunes, doubletwist, etc)

[Shokhet]

Never mind; it worked....apparently just needed to restart my computer....thanks again!

[ClioCJS]

I am also fond of additionally mapping the keyboard's built-in "Pause" button. Not the media one. The one next to scroll lock. Advantage: Works for all keyboards consistently.